Pathfinder Pathfinder: Kingmaker Builds and Strats Thread

[Desiderius]

Yes, that was my reasoning too, but I ended up with a toon that often just didn’t do enough compared to other options. Bard healing song can fill in for channeling plus there are a shit ton of healing potions laying around.

As for Arcane, Jub + Linzi covers everything you need as far as buffs already.

 

[RK47]

The whole idea was to get touch spells like Bestow Curse or SpitVenom into the Scion/Archer spellbook so you could Spellstrike with them and that ended up not working.

Touch Curse is always covered by grenadiers for me.
The fact they can try 3x a round with haste to land the debuff is p. big deal to me and no SR check.

I'm kinda stuck on party roster right now. Any advice?
Lv13
Jaethal: I'm using her badly here. A wasted level on INQ + TSS/VI/SD - may need recommendation
MC: Grenadier
Harrim: I went full necro focus. Seems ok. Servicable. Harm does great heals to put Jaethal back into fights. And can spam boneshakers as needed.
Linzi: She's a bard. Nothing else matters.
Ekundayo: He shoots... that's it. Do I really want to dilute the Ranger level or just stick with it all the way? I'm supposed to go Sacred Huntsman for animal pet teamwork feat right?
Octavia: Ranged touch ray spam sneak attack. Very one dimensional. Nice transmute CC here and there. I still like the Maximize Robe and Quickening Rod trick to fire off 6 rays of scorching in a turn.

 

[Haplo]

Octavia: Ranged touch ray spam sneak attack. Very one dimensional. Nice transmute CC here and there. I still like the Maximize Robe and Quickening Rod trick to fire off 6 rays of scorching in a turn.

Focus on Conjuration more. Way better CC.

 

[Desiderius]

The whole idea was to get touch spells like Bestow Curse or SpitVenom into the Scion/Archer spellbook so you could Spellstrike with them and that ended up not working.

Touch Curse is always covered by grenadiers for me.
The fact they can try 3x a round with haste to land the debuff is p. big deal to me and no SR check.

I'm kinda stuck on party roster right now. Any advice?
Lv13
Jaethal: I'm using her badly here. A wasted level on INQ + TSS/VI/SD - may need recommendation
MC: Grenadier
Harrim: I went full necro focus. Seems ok. Servicable. Harm does great heals to put Jaethal back into fights. And can spam boneshakers as needed.
Linzi: She's a bard. Nothing else matters.
Ekundayo: He shoots... that's it. Do I really want to dilute the Ranger level or just stick with it all the way? I'm supposed to go Sacred Huntsman for animal pet teamwork feat right?
Octavia: Ranged touch ray spam sneak attack. Very one dimensional. Nice transmute CC here and there. I still like the Maximize Robe and Quickening Rod trick to fire off 6 rays of scorching in a turn.

For me base party is Bard, Alchemist, Freebooter, and Cleric then slot in whoever has unique strengths against what I'm facing.

If you like Jaethal (I don't) she does fine as any of the core four roles so you can keep her around all the time. Her unique strength is her Undead immunities (especially important vs swarms) so you can build her to excel against the enemies you want to bring her in against if you don't make her one of your core four. As for as strength pretty sure it's hard to beat straight-up Inquisitor since that class snowballs so much.

On Grenadier try right-clicking on Alchemical Weapon while using your regular bombs. Also I don't use Fast Bombs. Too good when they're on, too bad when you run out.

Harrim's strength is his AC and Saves boosts and Touch of Chaos however you build him. Touch doesn't care about Cleric levels so you can use it as a C1/Freebooter19 for instance (Touch is Standard, Bane is Move). Works with Monster Tactician Harrim. Necro is fine but nothing very strong until late.

Either way you go Ekun is sick.

I like Octavia in melee. Compared to Ekun rays just don't do that much damage.

 

[Desiderius]

I'm playing Ekun straight-up Ranger and its probably better than the Huntmaster 8 version. Splashing SH3 is probably fine but straight-up is pretty smooth since it gets the duration up on your great buffs and gets you to Animal Growth/Res faster. Can't wait for Improved Quarry.

 

[Desiderius]

Octavia: Ranged touch ray spam sneak attack. Very one dimensional. Nice transmute CC here and there. I still like the Maximize Robe and Quickening Rod trick to fire off 6 rays of scorching in a turn.

Focus on Conjuration more. Way better CC.

She’s handy for Slow

 

[Trashos]

Jaethal: I'm using her badly here. A wasted level on INQ + TSS/VI/SD - may need recommendation

Yeah, I use Jaethal as a tank. The core build is TSS9/Inq3. TSS9 so that she gets shield bonus against touch attacks, and Inquisitor3 so that she can use teamwork feats (eg Shield Wall) without any other companion having them. This way, her Inq level at the start is not a waste!

So get her to TSS9/Inq1 fast, then get her to TSS9/Inq3, and then you can proceed however you want (eg go on as TSS or get some Stal Defender or get whatever).

 

[LannTheStupid]

I wonder how good Jaethal could be as an air->water Psychokineticist. Or may be even water -> air to tank in the beginning; however, then she would be too much like Kalikke.

Hmm...

Will she be able to survive the first 6-7 levels on Unfair as Inq1/TSS5 ?

 

[Haplo]

Octavia: Ranged touch ray spam sneak attack. Very one dimensional. Nice transmute CC here and there. I still like the Maximize Robe and Quickening Rod trick to fire off 6 rays of scorching in a turn.

Focus on Conjuration more. Way better CC.

She’s handy for Slow

Slow is decent, but I vastly prefer Grease, Glitterdust and Create Pit. Also Stinking Cloud, although in practice I didn't use it much.

 

[Desiderius]

Slow is enemies only.

 

[Desiderius]

No worse than Val, it’s just a pain to heal. You could let her fight with reach until the good Tower Shields start showing up.

 

[Desiderius]

Only time I played her straight through I went Inq20 Ranged with Necro Cloak and it was great. There aren’t that many good teamwork feats in unmodded anyway that other toons don’t already want. Shield Wall is only a couple AC.

Her strongest ability is WIS to initiative and second is Perception per level so that means pure INQ caster.

 

[Desiderius]

Castigate (Unique Inq spell) is very good in Ch 1.

 

[RK47]

Her strongest ability is to cast 2 animate dead in one round and just watch the AI go full retard.
It is especially funny when I just swap to Necro Staff for +3 skeleton weapons summon and hasted them all.
Anyway I went Amiri Freebooter.
I think Aim for Lvl 15 FB then see what I can do with Barbie. Or since level ups take longer to reach at high lvl, just pump Vivi mutagen into her thicc ass for 1d6 Sneak +4 STR and 2 AC

 

[RK47]

I'm annoyed with Tristian's choice of domain.
If I want to make a new ecclesitheurge which domain would be the best pick for primary?

 

[LannTheStupid]

If I want to make a new ecclesitheurge which domain would be the best pick for primary?

That's what I used for Varnhold's Lot on Hard. Praise InEffect!

Deity: Gozreh
Domains: Water, Animal

But InEffect also recommends Erastil -> Communal / Animal.

 

[Haplo]

For a cleric dip in a (non ranger) martial build, Torag with Artifice domain can be an interesting pick - for Lead Blades.

 

[RK47]

Ok why is wild shape useful for druids? Seems very underwhelming.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I'm annoyed with Tristian's choice of domain.
If I want to make a new ecclesitheurge which domain would be the best pick for primary?

It depends on what you want to accomplish. Look at the domains and see what spells you like most.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Ok why is wild shape useful for druids? Seems very underwhelming.

Wild Shape is build specific, not really something you use unless you are planning to build around it.

Wild Shape Druid with that cape you get in the bridge (1d4 cold on bite, free trip on bite), various Aspect of the spells and you can trip every motherfucker within biting range.

Certainly not late-game material tho, I think the build peaked around Armag and kinda plateu'd there.

 

[RK47]

Ok why is wild shape useful for druids? Seems very underwhelming.

Wild Shape is build specific, not really something you use unless you are planning to build around it.

Wild Shape Druid with that cape you get in the bridge (1d4 cold on bite, free trip on bite), various Aspect of the spells and you can trip every motherfucker within biting range.

Certainly not late-game material tho, I think the build peaked around Armag and kinda plateu'd there.

Yeah I was thinking of that cape, and only that cape.
I got a question though.
If I have an alchemist mutagen active and turned into animal form, do I get the bite bonus attack or not?

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Ok why is wild shape useful for druids? Seems very underwhelming.

Wild Shape is build specific, not really something you use unless you are planning to build around it.

Wild Shape Druid with that cape you get in the bridge (1d4 cold on bite, free trip on bite), various Aspect of the spells and you can trip every motherfucker within biting range.

Certainly not late-game material tho, I think the build peaked around Armag and kinda plateu'd there.

Yeah I was thinking of that cape, and only that cape.
I got a question though.
If I have an alchemist mutagen active and turned into animal form, do I get the bite bonus attack or not?

The build can work without that cape, but that cape just make it on whole another level of strong. Later with Aspect of the Wolves you also get trip as a free action.

The cape should give the bonus to any biting attack, I remember using it with Amiri on my non-Druid playthrough as she got that Rage Power that gives bite attack.

 

[razvedchiki]

is duelist parry worth the lvls invested in the class?

 

[Trashos]

Doing my hard-difficulty Sword Saint (Rapier) playthrough. Great fun, and I have also gradually gotten much better at this game (I am currently in Vordakai's Tomb and I feel fine!)

I took a scaled fist lvl early for the +CHA in AC, but it was probably a mistake. I get +2 AC out of it and an easy Crane Style, but everything else (eg spells) comes slower. Not sure currently how it affected my (pretty good) saves. Not sure yet if it has delayed my BAB (hopefully not). Crane Style is pretty good of course, but was it worth it? I will probably try a full Sword Saint in my next playthrough to do a comp.

Relatively happy with my choice of Rapier. I may try a Dueling Sword in the future. It is possible to get a unique +5 Dueling Sword right after visiting Varnhold, so maybe that is the way to go.

My Sword Saint is an off-tank (behind Jaethal & Okbo, ahead of Harrim and the other weaklings), and it is indeed a fun way to play the game as a fighter/mage with emphasis on fighter.

QUESTION: If I want to play a fighter/mage with emphasis on mage, what class should I be looking at?

 

[Haplo]

Doing my hard-difficulty Sword Saint (Rapier) playthrough. Great fun, and I have also gradually gotten much better at this game (I am currently in Vordakai's Tomb and I feel fine!)

I took a scaled fist lvl early for the +CHA in AC, but it was probably a mistake. I get +2 AC out of it and an easy Crane Style, but everything else (eg spells) comes slower. Not sure currently how it affected my (pretty good) saves. Not sure yet if it has delayed my BAB (hopefully not). Crane Style is pretty good of course, but was it worth it? I will probably try a full Sword Saint in my next playthrough to do a comp.

Relatively happy with my choice of Rapier. I may try a Dueling Sword in the future. It is possible to get a unique +5 Dueling Sword right after visiting Varnhold, so maybe that is the way to go.

My Sword Saint is an off-tank (behind Jaethal & Okbo, ahead of Harrim and the other weaklings), and it is indeed a fun way to play the game as a fighter/mage with emphasis on fighter.

QUESTION: If I want to play a fighter/mage with emphasis on mage, what class should I be looking at?

Kinda sad to read this. Rapier is a pretty sad weapon category on a Sword Saint.
The SF dip wasn't a bad idea I'd say - and it can get even better when you find unique monk robes (depending on your alignment) AND much better multi-stat boosters. Personally I prefer to start with 14-16 Wis and go with Traditional Monk, but SF with some Cha works also.
That said, rapier kinda points at a Dex build (which makes me sad again), and that's like the only case where I probably would skip the monk dip to eventually reach Weapon Mastery and improved crit multiplier, because it has an easier AC ramp regardless.

But if you play a SS as an offtank past level 5 or so, you're probably doing something wrong. Mine was usually charging head-first into combat. Well, it gets even better/safer with Perfect Reflexes at SS 19.

If you do play another SS, I'd advise you to man up. A dueling sword isn't a terrible pick (much better then a rapier), but its outclassed by falcatas, longswords and my personal favourites, bastard swords. Note that in Kingmaker you can even finesse wield those with Slashing Grace - but I advise going for Str focus instead.